Greetings. I'm writting for dad because internet access is expensive on the ship. (But you know dad:) He'll complete the travels whe he returns home. Scott. P.S. All are having fun!! [View Full Entry]

---

---

Skagway Alaska, Thursday, August 8, 2008 As part of our cruise seven of us wanted to do the Klondike bike tour offered by Sockeye Cycle. Twice I called about the bikes and types that they rent as I have some disability with my left hand and need some accommodation. I wasn’t able to get any clear answers and they really made me feel like I was bothering them. Neither respondent told me that they have tandem bicycles to rent that could be solution to my problem. When I called the second time I wanted to book the trip directly with them [View Full Entry]

---

---

Nous avons pris la route a 9h30 pour Skagway qui se situe a moins de 200km de Whitehorse. Le temps etait magnifique, pas un seul nuage. Nous nous dirigions vers l'Alsaka vetus d'une jupe pour moi et short pour Romain, avec a nos pieds des tongues. Notre premier arret fut pour admirer Emerald lake, qui porte bien son nom. Les couleurs de ce lac sont a couper le soufle, bleu turquoise en effet, on y voit meme le sable blanc au dessous de l'eau. Une jolie maison de bois surplombe la lac du haut de la montagne. On aurait bien eu [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Skagway at around 6am, fortuneately for us we did not need to be up that early, so like most days the customary sleep in occured. One of the good things about being here is that you get around 18hrs of sunlight so you are never really in a hurry to do things on the boat. Skagway is one of the tiniest towns i've ever seen the population averages around 800 residents, the day we arrived there were 3 other ships in port so the population jumped to almost 10,000 in a matter of hours. It's amazing to think [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our last full day in Skagway started with getting the van loaded up, laundry and some last minute shopping. We bought a few more souvenirs and then had lunch at the Red Onion Saloon. The “girls” were leading tours upstairs into the brothel. They charged $5.00, which is what it cost the men in the late 1800’s to visit with them upstairs. The money was sent from the “crib” in a tube to the bartender who kept track of the girls. He had a doll for each of the girls and would lay the doll on it’s back when the girl [View Full Entry]

---

---

Skagway is an enigma. There are so many wealthy people here, yet to look around, most of what you see looks like poverty. There is abandoned and unlived in property everywhere and about half the houses that are lived in are shacks or extremely rundown. A great number of the employees here for the summer are foreign students. Most employers provide “housing” for these employees, which is often a run-down trailer in a campground, and in some cases tents. Dave and I walked through several campgrounds in the city and we saw lots of permanent type tents (white canvas on a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Needless to say, we slept-in this morning after a late night last night. Dave was “under the weather” and did not want to do much of anything, but it was such a beautiful day, sunny with no clouds in the sky, and I wanted to be outside. We had planned on doing the hike up to Lower Dewey Lake, which is a short but steep hike. Instead after lunch we drove downtown and treated ourselves to ice cream cones and drove to the harbor to eat them. Then we headed up the Dyea Road to the scenic overlook of Skagway and [View Full Entry]

---

---

A cloudy day, but no rain. Not bad for a day with a 70% chance of showers. A hike this morning up to the Gold Rush Cemetery and Reid Falls, yielded a surprise. As we were approaching the cemetery on the gravel road, a black bear suddenly appeared and stood looking at us. We were a good distance away and so I told Dave that we needed to turn around and go the other way. He had not seen the bear yet, but knew that something must be wrong. That’s when he looked straight ahead of us and the two of [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yesterday’s sun and warmth has been replaced today with a cold rain. We decided that we would drive over to Dyea (pronounced Die E). The ride to Dyea is on a twisting gravel road which is very well maintained and very scenic. Dyea was and actually still is the starting point for the Chilkoot Trail which took the stampeders to the Yukon Gold Rush. There are famous photos of the Chilkoot Trail, which shows hundreds of men, tied together, climbing a very steep mountain with heavy packs on their backs. Because men were showing up in Dawson City with no supplies, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Leaving Whitehorse and the Alaska Highway behind, for the last time this trip, we traveled down Alaska Route 2, the South Klondike Highway toward Skagway. This drive is one of the most scenic drives in North America. The road follows lakes and streams as it winds through valleys and over the mountains. Emerald Lake is just that, a lake that looks like it is emerald green. It glistened today in the sunshine as we stopped to marvel at it’s wonder. Soon we came to “The Smallest Desert in the World”, the Carcross Desert. The area was once covered by a glacial [View Full Entry]

---

---